Today (July 26th) is the first ever one-day international event: Hands Of Haven


For the past 2 years the Haven Conference (and the bloggers who attended) have partnered with Habitat for Humanity and participated in a Habitat house build.  For 2014 a group of Atlanta-based bloggers will be working on a Habitat for Humanity house once again. But this year, Haven has gone even further and pledged to raise $5500 for this wonderful organization.

But participating in Hands of Haven day isn't limited to those Atlanta-based bloggers or even the bloggers who attended Haven. Everyone is welcome to participate.

If you want to be involved with this special event there are a few ways you can help. 

• Volunteer at your local Habitat for Humanity chapter
• Visit (and shop at) your nearest Habitat for Humanity Re-Store 
• Purchase your Hands of Haven T-Shirt here  (100% of the proceeds go to the cause)

Make sure you use the hashtag #HandsOfHaven so we can all see how you are doing good too! 

In honor of Hands of Haven 2014, I made a trip to my local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (because my local Habitat for Humanity chapter doesn’t have any active builds right now.. since you KNOW I would love to get my hands dirty!)

The closest restore to me is the Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley (located in Oakland, CA):

If you have never been to a restore, and you are a DIY-junkie, you have been missing out.  Seriously.. let me give you a tour.

Looking for inexpensive building supplies? You should always check your Re-store first.

Along with building supplies like wood, doors, windows, etc they also have a huge selection of fixtures:
Cabinets:
Tile:

Electrical supplies like switches and switch plates:

And check out these stair spindles..  The selection is amazing.. I always thought it would be a few outdated, busted up old building supplies that people have donated. That isn't the case at all!


Re-Stores specialize in both gently used and NEW building supplies.  Like these boxes and boxes of hardware:

Plus the prices are FANTASTIC.  These brand new Danze hooks which retail for $26 each:At the restore they were only $4!

On this trip I walked away with an old wooden window for $10.   I threw it up on the mantel and it looks adorable:
I loved the old patina on it.. It even had the original weights and ropes.

I set it up with a twig wreath, some blue glass bottles and a red lantern to stay with the red, white and blue theme:


I have plans to use it in a big project but for now, I am enjoying it just like it is:

And the best part is that the proceeds of my $10 purchase went to support Habitat for Humanity right here in my community.

Some of my fellow Haven Mavens are also participating in this event… Stop by and see how they are Doing Good On A Grand Scale: